Good Economic News

You won’t be reading about this in the New York Times, which is officially committed to a policy of nothing but bad news from now to November 2. But the Commerce Department released some good news tonight:

U.S. personal incomes rose 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2004, the fastest pace of growth in more than three years, as income gains sped up in 33 states, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.
All 50 U.S. states reported increases in personal income, and real earnings for all eight U.S. regions climbed above the level set in the first quarter of 2001, the previous peak in the national business cycle, the government reported.
“We do see an improving picture here,” said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wachovia Securities. “I think the recovery has strengthened and broadened.”

This will be a closely guarded secret unless John Kerry wins the election, in which case he, like Bill Clinton, will get credit for the rapidly improving economy that preceded his administration.